bomb went off? i want an answer to that question. >> reporter: are you searching the entire marathon route or specific areas you're focusing on? >> our focus of the investigation is in the area the the mayor's office has fielded many calls of concern. we're going through those right now. in the boston marathon, the moment when boylston street has the largest number of runners approaching the finish line at once, usually occurs about two hours after the winner crosses the finish line. today when boylston street was most crowded with runners, two

hours after alisa won the marathon, this happened. >> hey -- >> we need help! >> okay. >> come on.

>> oh, my god. oh, my god. oh, my god. >> the people who were injured and killed by those two explosions about 15 seconds apart, were watching runners who started the race 26.2 miles down the road in hoppington. of 26,839 runners descended on hoppington along with their friends and support staff. when those runners made it to the town of newton, close to

boston college, they encountered what is considered the worst stretch of the marathon known as heartbreak hill. today, hearts were broken in boston at the spot that is normally the scene of joyous triumph of marathoners becausing the finish line. we're going to a press conference live at massachusetts general hospital in boston. >> where are you finding injuries? >> there's a variety of injuries, probably the most serious injuries are combined lower extremity injuries, soft tissue injuries. >> are you seei ining shrapnel- injuries? >> we're seeing a lot of shrapnel injuries. predominantly lower body injuries. >> doctor, please describe the

scene with people coming in? >> well, the first patient who came in was probably the most severe. we had three the most critically ill patients come in in the first 15 minutes. at that point, we didn't know if that was it. pretty much, the hospital activated it's emergency system within ten to 15 minutes. >> what are the ages that you're seeing? >> i don't have that information. >> did you perform an amputation? >> yes. >> how many? >> i can't tell. >> can you tell us how many patients you've treated and have any of you been able to communicate to you what they saw, what they witnessed? >> so, a number of patients have

been able to talk. most of them, we've kept it business only, to be honest with you, with what affects their condition. you probably know more than i do about what happened at the scene at this point. >> doctor, of the six -- >> how many did you treat? >> the hospital treated 29. i operated on six -- >> you can say if anye children? >> have youpaents? >> i don't know if we've identified everyone. i knowome of the patients were identified. >> how many remain in the hospital. >> i don't know. >> there's a question doctor about family members, loved ones, any difficulty they may be having. do you have any indication of patients if they've been able to reach their loved ones? >> some of them have. some of them initially were

unable to identify who they were. with the family, i don't know the 29 total or particularly the 11 -- i'm sorry, 8 who are in critical condition. >> were these runners or spectators? >> again, i'm not sure. i have not taken care of any runners. >> was there anything in unusual in particular? >> no, there's a lot of small metal debris. some people have asked already about whether it's bebs or part of bombs or placed there intentionally or part of the environment. >> do you think that most people are critical at this point? [ inaudible ] it's really too early to say. >> how long will this process

continue to be critical? hours? >> the younger patients will require operations tomorrow and serial operations over days. a lot of the injuries are soft tissue and vascular injuries and they have to be approached in kind of step-by-step. >> how about ear drums, are you seeing any shattered ear drums? >> we have seen at least one. for me and the residents to actually go right back around, particularly the people, in the operating room to get a good exam. >> can you give us more information on ages, hometowns? >> no, i'm sorry, i can't, actually. >> can you talk about the amput amputees, how many? >> i can't. i mean, a couple.

[ question inaudible ] >> i don't know. there were no pediatric patients. the old evidence person i took care of was 71. >> you're a surgeon but still -- >> i mean, it's just depressing. we see accidents all the time, it's just depressing. >> in the course of your career, have you ever seen anything like this? >> the injuries are not -- for this type of injury. >> it appears that this device may about ied-like. what do you mean?

>> any dramatic amputation is an injury, but something that we see all the time in daily life, outside of this >> is this tough on you? did you think much about really what was happening? or does it kick in automatically? >> i mean, this is work. >> doctor, you talked about injuries on a broad scale, can you elaborate on their injuries? >> i'm hesitant to give you a kind of rundown of each of the eight one by one by one. again, the dominant injuries have been combined to lower extremi extremities, blood vessels. >> have any of your colleagues had experience with this? >> yeah, one of my partners has been to iraq and afghanistan. i think that's consistent with these types of injuries but i

haven't talked to him directly about what he's seen. >> what do you think for the patients mentally? were they -- did any of them say anything that gave you some sense of what this experience is like for them? >> no. i mean -- people, they want help in this kind of situation. my experience today is this. people are pretty brave, you know. it's a terrible thing, you just do what you have to do. >> doctor [ question inaudible ] >> some conscious and some unconscious. >> doctor, can you describe a little bit about the scene when it first happened? >> we just got a series of patients on stretchers. actually, none of them, the first wave, even some very

seriously injured, the first few were able to talk. i think most -- picked out the most severe injuries really the lower extremity injuries. so we had three in probably the first five or ten minutes. that's when it became clear to us that -- [ inaudible ] again, like i said, that's what i said, the injury ares individually. >> there were 6 and now there are 10? >> i'm not sure how they were classified, but certainly, there's some patients who may not have been close that --

>> doctor, earlier, your colleague had mentioned that you were trained with israeli first responders. >> i was not trained by -- >> you've seen incredible signs of help across this region. and we heard reports that even runners have called the hospital often to donate blood. have you seen any of those bright signs in all of this? >> well, what i can say, within the hospital, everybody rose to the occasion. we've had people from out of town to do that made it back in with nursing staff, operating room staff, specialists, really, we've had as much or more manpower, people power than we can use.

i can't speak to the larger scenario, although i was asked by the hospital to mention to anyone who is willing to donate blood specifically, that it's appreciated. that right now, we're okay. if they cannot forget that sentiment over the coming days to weeks, we are going to use a lot of blood with this incident, and it will need to be replenished. >> doctor, with hazard residue how does that work? >> no, they have not been and they were not quarantined in the emergency room departments. >> earlier, we heard in the hospital that all nonelective surgeries were being put on hold because the number of patients coming in. what's the sort of status on where things are now? >> yeah, actually, i can't tell you that. i would be surprised if all nonelective surgeries. i can tell you for our general and emergency service, we did

cancel our general cases for tomorrow. and we'll have to sort them out over the next few days. >> did you say that all victims have been identified? >> no i didn't. i don't have that information, actually. >> do you know if they've found their family members? >> that, i don't know. >> can we get further updates tonight? >> tomorrow. i'm looking at my public affairs office, looks like the next press conference will be tomorrow. >> do you have anything scheduled where we are in the morning, we'll let you know available 24/7? >> do you know if everybody has been identified for their families? >> i don't know. >> doctor how much of your day and night has been with this? >> it's been a busy day. >> how many surgeries did you do -- >> pardon me? >> if you add up the hours of surgery, six surgeries, right, how many hours of surgery? >> well i started doing surgery

at 8:00 a.m., pretty much stopped to come and talk to you. actually, i'm going to have to go back. >> you can spell your last name for us. >> it's fchlt-a n-a-g-e-n-h-o-l. i'm a trauma surgeon. >> that was massachusetts general hospital, trauma surgeon reporting that they have 29 patients at mass general today as a result of the bombing today on boylston street in boston. he himself, who is a trauma surgeon, dr. faganholz has operated on six of them. he said that no one admitted to the hospital to mass general is under the age of 18. the oldest patient he knows admitted to mass general is 71

years old. dr. faganholz as you just heard him say, he's been working all day on surgeries and was working all day on surgeries and operations before this event occurred, and has been now continuing with that. joining us now is cassidy quinn brettler who is in newton, massachusetts. she with thenessed today's attacks. cassidy, thank you very much for joining us tonight? >> thank you for having me. i wish it were under better circumstances, thank you. >> cassidy, were you there as a spectator of the marathon? >> i was. i work downtown. one of my colleagues was running in the marathon. he had already finished race a few minutes before. i went back about 30 feet behind the finish line to get a perfect picture of the finish line as any photographer wants to do.

before i got to take the picture i heard the loudest noise i've ever heard in my entire life. >> cassidy, you were on boylston? on which side of the sidewalk? were you on the north side or the south side? >> i was on the. opposite of the bleach evers or the viewers. >> so you were just east of exeter street. >> i was about 30 feet from the finish line, boylston street. >> what was your experience of the two explosions? >> well the first explosion happened. and when the first explosion happens, i didn't know what to think, but obviously, you assume there's only going to be one. you don't assume there's only going to be one in the first place and you hear one happened. and the ground shook. my legs didn't stop shaking for two hours after that happened. then you hear the second explosion. you haven't even started to

process the first explosion happening. then the second one happens about 15 seconds later as you mentioned. then you realize, everything going through my taed. this is an attack, this is not an accident. two can't happen within 15 seconds. what do i do? where where do i go? how do i contact my family? is everybody is okay? just craziness. >> and how do you do all of those things? what is the first thing did you? >> i was by myself, obviously, i was surrounded by thousands of spectators and runners. i didn't know anyone around me. i didn't know what to do. i first snold people. after the second explosion, everyone starts to go inside to try to escape what it was that was happening. so i went into an atm bank area to just hide out for five minutes and try to compose myself and start to text my family and boyfriend and tell everybody okay. i actually ended up tweeting and placing on facebook, it's crazy

in the world of social media since all the phone lines were shut down that was the main way people got to reach their loved ones and tell them i am aokay. >> did you see injured people? >> i did. once i was inside. i got inside the little bank area, i got time to actually process, okay, what is going on, and what is going on around me and outside. and i just looked outside and i saw so much smoke enveloping everybody. i actually saw two people get carried by other people because they couldn't walk anymore. i'm hoping those people are okay. they're probably people inside the hospital right now. i saw them right outside the window in front of me conferred in blood, parts of their bodies that were blown up and just not the way you ever want to see a human being ever look in your life. >> cassidy, how did you get out of the area. was it because they shut down the t at some point in that area, didn't they?

>> yes, after i was inside the atm area for five minutes. policemen came in and they were like, you got to get out of here, they didn't tell us where to go, just basically get out of the copley square area. i walked over to newbury street, trying to gain composure and call and text people. luckily, my office building was a few blocks away. i just started walking to my office. i'm a video blogger. so the blogger in me thought i better get video of this. i posted a video to youtube about ten minutes after the explosion happened. i figured if i'm here and thank goodness, i am okay and alive to tell the story and take video of this, i might as well get as much as i can. and then get to safety. >> cassidy quinn brettler, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you, guys. in washington, president

obama spoke from the white house briefing room just after 6:00 tonight, about three hours after the explosions. >> i directed the full resources of the federal government to help state and local authorities protect our people, increase security around the united states as necessary and investigate what happened. i just want to reiterate, we will find out who did this, and we will hold them accountable. >> joining me from washington, nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. what is the latest reaction from the white house and white house staff? >> well, lawrence, senior administration officials say the president will continue to be updated on this situation throughout the evening. and right now, they are approaching this as an act of terror. i'll read you the latest statement we have coming out of the white house. it says, quote, any event with multiple explosive devices as this appears to be is clearly an act of terror and will be approached as an act of terror. however, we don't yet know who

carried out this attack. and the thorough investigation will have to determine whether it was planned or carried out by a terrorist group, foreign or domestic. that is the question key, lawrence, was this an act of terror carried out by a foreign group or domestic group? you heard in his comments there, president obama making the point that whoever carried this out will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. the president was made aware of this at about 3:00 this afternoon. he reached out to boston mayor tom menino, as well as the governor of massachusetts deval patrick, not only to help, but to make it clear that the federal government will provide resources and helping the community of boston heal. he has been briefed throughout the day by robert muller director of the fbi, wells dhs secretary janet napolitano and he will continue to get updates throughout the evening. again, there's not a whole lot of information in terms of who actually carried out the acts of

frustration this evening because they don't know if this was carried out by someone here on u.s. soil or someone abroad. so that is really the key question they are looking into. again, president obama continuing to monitor the situation into the evening, lawrence. >> kristen welker, thank you. joining me now nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. >> lawrence, good evening. investigators know for certain that this attack involved two bombs, but what they don't know is whether there were any other explosives involved. and frankly, the information on this is confused tonight. at least five other packages found on the street were deemed to be suspicious, and were destroyed by boston police and bomb squad techs. and there were many packages to check, officials say, because after the explosions, people simply dropped what they were carrying and ran away. we have heard, quite frankly, conflicting accounts about whether there were exploded

bombs. officials say tonight that two other packages were found that contain some form of explosives, but other officials say there were just the two bombs. the two that went off. so safe to say that remains unclear. several officials say the bombs that did go off included shrapnel that multiplied the injuries, small bits of metal, bbs and ball bearings they're saying. they're looking at surveillance video to see anyone placing packages at places where the bombs went off. and they described the devices with crude with thankfully less explosive power that might have been contained in packages of this size. they also said there's no one in custody but they are talking to a 20-year-old saudi man here on a visa. he was seen running from the area but he had serious burns. he's in a hospital and he's being questioned there. >> pete, i've been impressed with the caution and precision of your coverage all day. there's been a lot of different things that have passed through

the media today that have turned out to be rumors, turned out to be not true or not true at that time. how would you guide us and the media in going forward here, and what we should be careful of as we look at these developments? >> well, i think the thing that stands out for me tonight is they really don't have a direction one way or the other as to who did this, whether it was an individual. whether it was a group. this suggests that nobody that they have on their radar right now, where were they're in custody is lighting up the charts for them. or is seen as a particularly promising lead. now, of course, you can just be sure that anyone that they are questioning, they're not only talking of them, but they're also aggressively checking their back grounds. looking at people that they've been in contact with. doing everything they can, short of getting a court order to investigate and search. so that's very active. they're looking at all kinds of

tips that are coming in. they're looking at all sorts of pictures that they're getting. but at the same time, they're moving relatively slowly to actually analyze the evidence on the scene. it appears now, lawrence, that they won't actually get down on their hands and knees and do that painstaking gathering up of evidence and forensics until tomorrow, possibly, because they're concerned of all these packages that they need to run down to make sure they're not hazardous. and possibly because they want to get the right people on the scene to do it. experienced bomb technicians who have had the misfortune of looking at these things before and know what to look for. >> and, pete, they're looking at the pressure of having sealed off and closed off a vital area of downtown boston, a central business area, that they will be under real pressure to reopen as soon as possible. >> they will. but, you know, my sense is that they will -- they will not jump the gun in any way.

that they consider it far more important to make sure that they gather up every last piece of evidence. remember, it took them a while, the key piece of evidence in the oklahoma city bombing was an axle that had a serial number on it. and it's just finding that one key thing that can make the difference. now, you're dealing with, of course, much smaller, unfortunately explosives so the pieces are much smaller. knowing fo for example, i guess, a single piece of evidence. if you find little bits of backpack, well, that leads you in a certain direction. you start looking for pictures of people carrying backpacks heading for that scene, you know, within a certain time frame before the explosion went off. so that's the kind of thing that's very important. i'm sure that pressure will be on them. but something tells me that the city of boston will perhaps be more understanding than it might be in other situations to give them the time they need. >> pete, it seems to me, there's probably an unprecedented amount

of video and photographic evidence that will eventually be available to the investigators with all of those camera phones. house to and thousands of camera phones just in those two crucial blocks where all this occurred, how will they possibly over time, harvest all of that and analyze all of that? >> well, that would be a happy problem to deal with, if it turns out there is that sort of abundance of material. the one problem that stands out in my mind is probably people were looking in the wrong direction. they're looking at the street. they're not looking behind them. so that may limit the number of cameras with lenses are pointed in the right direction at the right time. they'll also look at commercial surveillance cameras in the area and government surveillance cameras. yes, we already know they're asking for people to send them pictures and stills and video that they may have made around that time. so they certainly hope they have a huge amount of material to deal with. what they'll then do is try to

match it up so they can sync is in terms of time. so if you have, you know, 100 or 200 pieces of video, you try to match it all up. and you eventually end up with, you know, hundreds or dozens, certainly, of different views at the same time, and you can run it frame by frame and see what pops up. >> pete williams, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> you bet. >> we're looking at aerial video boylston street in boston where you can just see blood stains in that shot, 100 feet above the sidewalk, an amazing puddle of blood on that sidewalk. joining me now from boston, mike barnicle who is outside of massachusetts general hospital. mike, we just had a briefing from surgeon dr. peter faganholz, a trauma surgeon is there at mass general. as you and i know, if anything does happen to you in boston, you're lucky if you're close to massachusetts general hospital,

as 29 of those patients were today. that are now in that hospital. mike, what is the feeling there? i've been having trouble imagining what it's like up there in my hometown tonight. >> well, lawrence, i mean, you know the town well. it's a very small town, the area that we're talking about where the bombings occurred is a very small street. boylston street in downtown boston. perhaps the bombings occurred no more than 100 yards distance. the mood in the city tonight is one of obviously somberness. people are upset about what happened. the day, as you know, patriots' day in boston, is a celebration. it's a community celebration. there is no school. it's a holiday for the entire state. children are out of school. this is the start of school vacation week. and for years, every patriots' day begins with a red sox game that starts at 11:00 in morning, as it did this morning.

and the marathon goes off in hopkington in boston. the runners proceed through a course past boston college, down commonwealth avenue, on to boylston street, the finish line. at the fin flush line, it's a community of strangers, lawrence, you know all of this. people from around the world, from around this country, gather to cheer on relatives, friends, sisters, daughters, husbands, what have you. most of the runners after the first 2 1/2 hours of the race have concluded are people running for specific purposes. running in memory of a loved one. running to raise awareness for cancer for muscular dystrophy, for cystic fibrosis, for aids, all sorts of causes. today, there were many running to honor those lost in newtown, connecticut. several people from newtown were among the runners. more than several people in the stands were from the newtown, connecticut, area.

and then approximately, quite close to 3:00, these two explosions occurred and have cast a pall over the day, a pall over the event which is pretty much a national holiday in the minds of many people in massachusetts. but i have to tell you, lawrence, you'd be proud to be here this evening because there's a resilience in the air as well. people are strong, they will wake up tomorrow morning. the sun will come back. the worst among us, whether it's international or domestic terrorism as we've alluded to all evening long, since 3:00 this afternoon, the worst among us arrived this afternoon on boylston street in boston. but the best among us were in the multitudes. in far greater numbers than the worst among us. and you saw the human spirit today in boston, as you've seen it throughout many cities where terrorist attacks have occurred both abroad and here in this country. you saw people helping people.

you saw strangers helping strangers. i talked to one young man, an eyewitness who was standing in front of the lord & taylor on boylston street. the first explosion was 75 yards to his right as he waited for his gir friend. the second explosion was 25 yards to his left. he saw people with lost -- losing limbs. he saw strangers tying tourniquets on people's legs. he saw a man jump on two children to cover them from any further blast which thankfully did not occur. but the ultimate scene, lawrence, as you know, as we've described all day long, is normally one of joy of joy and celebration and a community of spirit. that scene, boilston street, the finish line is unfortunately tonight a murder scene. >> yeah, mike, you and i have both watched that scene so many times over the years. people coming down boylston street. even the ones coming in six hours after the finisher.

it's the biggest moment in their lives. mike, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> you're welcome. >> joining me now by phone from boston, new england cable news reporter jackie bruno who was at the scene of the explosions today. jackie, you were covering this at the finish line today, weren't you? >> well, actually i was covering a different story. a feature, a story about a couple running the marathon from dallas, texas, who was supposed to get married at the boston commons at 5:30. we got them coming in. we were moving our car when this happened. literally coming out of the parking garage right next to where boylston street is. coming out of that parking garage. to give you an idea, mike barnicle said by lord & taylor, we were facing lord & taylor. we were coming out and i heard a big boom. i said what was that? even a joke, a gunshot, yeah, right, the race has already

started. then we heard another, at that point, it was clear something happened. we jumped out on the car at that point, we were already on the street. left the car there for a second to run down. as we were getting out of the car, i noticed a swarm of people running at me with horror on their face. i thought, i'm going to get trampled. my photographer john hammon was amazing, he literally went into action, started shooting, and we just kind of experienced along with everybody else, it's funny, being a reporter, so often we're able to deal with it more jaded because we're away from the situation. i feel like i experienced it as an eyewitness person right there, and then i'm also now reporting on it, so it's kind of an interesting situation for me to try to process all of it. but basically what i saw was people strewn about. it's hard to sanitize this for people. i basically saw people with their legs blown off. i saw a woman with her foot

missing. i saw blood everywhere. i saw a young boy being carried away from a police officer. he had blood all over his face. he wasn't moving. we found out there was an 8-year-old. i don't know if that was the case. but i did see a young boy with blood all over his face being carried away. i was only there for a few minutes before we realized we have to move the car because we weren't sure if there was another explosion that was going to follow it. so we went to move the car, and also from other people out of that parking garage because we were blocking the way. we were able to get out of the scene. what i had seen in the first few minute was horrific to say the least. we took a picture and a video. to see it right away, i think i had a view, fortunately and unfortunate, a lot of reporters didn't see. something i'll never forget. and i think i still haven't completely processed. >> jackie, i'm wondering when --

i just want to explain to people, when you got out of that car, you were just steps away from where this bomb had gone off, based on what you just described to me. >> right. >> i think some listeners would think, oh, she was around the corner, but it was basically that very same spot. >> it's a very wide street. you can see right there. >> as soon as you start moving out of your car, you see people running away toward you from what was that explosion of that bomb. are those injured people? are those bloodied people coming toward you? >> right. most of the people who were injured were on the ground. i saw one guy who had gone across the street to the intersection to the corner where i was at, he had a bloody leg. but nothing that seemed extremely traumatic to me until i saw the people on the other side of the street right where this bomb went off. that's where people were missing limbs. i saw at one point one guy had red sneakers on with shoe laces

untied. i realized that was not the case. that was was actually a guy with his legs blown off. i grew up here, i'm from this area. i went to boston university. i reported here my whole life. it's just incredible. you love the boston marathon. it's a day of joy. when you watch those runners come in. you're so excited for them your inspirational for them. you see the joy on their faces. the runners i saw coming in, they're running in with joy, immediately that changed, they were looking to their left and they saw body parts and people without limbs, and a horrific scene that seems to be something out of a movie or one of those horrific shows. i keep on thinking of "the walking dead" this something that we don't see every day or a situation, unless you're in a war. that's the type of injuries we were seeing. it was really traumatic. >> jackie, i just want to go through how your mind-set

changed. you described it well, i'm from boston, too. i remember as a kid, i used to think i got the day off from school because of the boston marathon. >> exactly. >> in fact, it's patriots day, this holiday that we celebrate there. it's very festive. it's just not the place where your mind is ready or poised to shift into any kind of negative or kind of crisis coverage. and so i'm just wondering if you can kind of replay it in your head those fractions of seconds where you went from what you thought you were doing, you actually thought you were covering a marathon and a wedding. when you went from that to realizing, you are covering a major historic american disaster. >> yeah, we knew it immediately. the kind of carnage we saw, this wasn't something small. some people had said early on, oh, maybe a man hole blew up. i couldn't imagine that a man hole blew up could cause this horrific situation. what we saw, i knew instantly

that something was bad. because there were two explosions, i didn't really realize there was another explosion down the road on boylston street. that's what had happened, i just knew i had heard two explosions, on the street with the carnage that i saw. that's what i was thinking that the moment. now processing this, going back, i wasn't on that side of the street today, but last year, i was right there, you know, going in the restaurants, going into the bars with friends. this is what you do on marathon monday. you want to be on the finish line. you want to be on that side of the road, that's a better side to be on. that's where restaurants and bars are. you're enjoying watching it on the television, you're watching it on the road. you're cheering it each and every time somebody comes through. from early morning on when the wheelchairs start coming through, the early participants. you're cheering from that point on, and people coming in at the end of the pack, you're cheering those people on because you know they need it more than the

people at the beginning. this is the kind of day we had. this is also a day where you needed passes to get on the grandstands or on the route. well, you didn't need passes to get on the sidewalk. this is a free open area on the sidewalk where people just go back and forth. so it's very easy -- it's hard to, whether you're in new york or another city, it's hard to navigate a sidewalk and know whether or not somebody has a bomb or not. all you snead a backpack. all you need is just a person. and they could blow up a sidewalk. that's all what happened here. people are wondering about security hour, do you secure a sidewalk? that's what happened here? >> knowing that area, jackie, i don't know how they could secure any of that. and it's -- as we know, it's a very upscale commercial neighborhood with some of the higher-priced stores. and it's a very high-end residential neighborhood, just a couple of blocks away there. >> oh, one more thing, lawrence. mentioning the kind of neighborhood it is tons of stores and restaurants, and newbury street is the next

street over. and every single store on newbury street when we had made it back to the area, probably around 4:00, every single store was closed. it was a ghosttown. and you know how it is on this day. this is never a ghost town on boston marathon day. in fact, it's a zoo. there's people everywhere. the only people we found were people who weren't from this area who couldn't get into their hotel rooms. we saw a few boston marathoners with still the garbage reflective material around them to keep them warm and they were freezing because they had nowhere to go. so that was the sad part. when i was talking to people. i was asking them, can i give you whatever water i have, or can i give you something. you just ran 26.2 miles and now you have nowhere to go. >> just to set the stage for people who might have another frame of reference. i would say, jackie, that boylston street sour fifth avenue in boston. and the next one over, newbury street is like madison avenue,

high-end fashion. and we're showing a map of that area. the city. and then over to the north of that, the east of it -- to the right of the screen, is the treat-lined and grass-lined commonwealth avenue which very similar in its way to park avenue. it's very much that kind of section of town. it's always vibrant. it's always alive. those explosions happening, even without the marathon there, would have hurt a lot of people at anytime of the business day or weekend day, for that matter. >> absolutely. and i have to mention the boston marathon volunteers. of course, the police and firefighters and first responders and doctors on the scene did wonders today. but the boston marathon volunteers, volunteer each and every year for this never imagined they were going to be in a situation like this, responding in an instant. many people were telling them they were giving them their phone so they can call family members, because when you're

running a marathon, you don't have anything on you but your clothes. they didn't have an opportunity to call people. between the people at the finish line trying to call the people to let them know they're okay, to the boston marathon runners who are trying to get their family members over at the finish line, they are really making a difference in connecting families today. i think they need to be applauded because they're bravery was apparent and they went into action and had an entirely different mission than what they came there for. >> jackie bruno of new england cable news. thank you for joining me tonight. your reporting has been invaluable to us at msnbc. >> i appreciate it. thank you very much. >> we'll have much more on this breaking story. we'll right back. ind reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list, so you can trust what you're reading. angie's list is like having thousands of close neighbors where i can go ask for personal recommendations. that's the idea. before you have any work done, check angie's list. from roofers to plumbers to dentists and more,

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the fbi has taken the lead if this investigation. it is asserting federal jurisdiction. it will do so through the boston drug task force. it is a criminal investigation that is a potential terrorist investigation. i'm not at liberty right now to go into details of that investigate, echoing governor patrick's words i encourage everyone to have a heightened state of vigilance tonight and going forward. >> that was from a news conference held about an hour ago. joining me now on the phone is a photographer who was at the scene photographing the marathon today. where were you located? >> i was about a half block away

>> away from the finish line? >> yeah, away from the finish line where the explosion had happened. my part of the marathon, who i was shooting had finished. so i had gone back to my hotel, right at the fairmont which is right next to the medical tent. the medical tent is literally 15 feet from the front door of the hotel. dropped off my camera, all my equipment. went back to go get a bite to eat. i went to go get some lunch with the rest of my team. and when -- as soon as we had sat down, boom. the first explosion went off. >> and what did you do then? >> instantly, i just stopped. that first -- after the first explosion, i heard it. i felt it through my feet, all the way up to my chest. and everyone in the room, everyone outside stopped. it was like -- it was like a movie. no one knew what to do. no one knew what happened at that moment.

it wasn't each a sense of fear as it was confusion, until that second one went off. as soon as that second one went off. everyone -- whether you knew it was a bomb or not, you knew it was something terrible. and instantly, everyone just had fear in their heart. and people were crying, running, confused. i immediately went outside the restaurant. i looked -- i was in an intersection, i looked in any direction, and every street was clogged. full of people running -- running in any direction for their life. because there was two bombs. you didn't know if there was going to be a third one, and they weren't even exactly right next to each other. you didn't know if there was going to be a third one or where it was going to come from. it was a mass panic of confusion and mayhem >> and there's a photograph of that you're showing that you took of the medical tent itself where the ambulances were convening getting ready to get those patients out of there.

what did you do after realizing that this really is two explosions we just heard? >> i made -- i made sure that my team was okay. and that everything was good. and we actually like left the restaurant immediately. i went back to the hotel, just made a head count to see if there was anything we could do. pretty much got locked in our hotel. security and police. we were just basically in a glass box not knowing what to do. i was more scared of being at the fairmont more than anything, just because of the fact the media and the press conference for all the athletes for all the marathon had been happening in that building so i was actually scared to be inside. >> that's the big hotel. conventions are held there. very close to the finish line of the marathon >> it's about 100 feet from the marathon. >> and we've gotten reports, some reports during the course

of the day, that some hotels have been evacuated. others saying that the hotels are in lockdown. what is your experience at the fairmont? >> baunsonce i got to the hotely asked for my key card to make sure i was staying in the hotel. if you got in, you never got out. it was like that for hours. now, you can leave, but you're only exiting in the way that you leave the crime scene. you cannot be hacking around there, if they do, they're going to consider you a threat. >> thanks for joining us. and thanks for allowing us to use that photograph. >> thank you. >> joining me now by phone is taylor landis who witnessed this today. where were you? >> i was actually on the opposite side of the bombing, about 75 yards away. >> which bombing, the first or the second?

>> from the first -- i was closer to the second. the second one was only probably a block and a half away from us. >> and did you realize it that the sound of the first one, what was happening? or did you, like most people, not fully understand it until you heard the second one? >> no, i was actually facing away from the first one when it went off. and the group that i was with, all of us thought that we actually heard a cannon fire. so we turned our attention. that's exactly what it sounded like a cannon fire, we turned our attention to the finish line. that's when we saw the cloud of smoke. even then, we can kind of sitting there saying, what is going on. i would say within ten seconds of turning around, we actually saw the second one happen, and that's when we kind of started putting things together. >> and what did you do after you realized what was happening? >> well, i was -- so i was with my dad, my brother and my future

brother-in-law. and my dad actually kind of had us back away from the street a little bit. got us -- we were kind of next to a building that had steel in pillars. and kind of protected us a little bit. a lot of the people in my area just kind of -- we were a little confused and stunned about what was going on. we kind of just stayed in the area. trying to figure out what was happening. and then as more and more people were coming our way, coming away from the explosion, we started putting two and two together. then we started heading back towards mass avenue. and away from the explosions. >> taylor, what we seem to be hearing tonight is that there were not a lot of injured or bloodied people walking around, because most of the injuries were below the waist. most of the injuries seem to have been to the legs. and so people were disabled, if they were injured. so did you see injured people leaving the scene? >> no.

i didn't see any injuries whatsoever. the only injuries i seen have been via pictures. so, that's correct, no one who was injured was walking around. so thankfully, we didn't see anything. i honestly don't know what i would have done if i did see anything. but, no, if people were injured, that were being -- they were staying where they were, from what i've heard, they would not have been able to walk around. >> and, taylor, i want you to help us tell the story of what this day normally means in boston. you're family has a tradition on this day, don't you? >> yes. basically, we've had season tickets to the red sox for a while. so our tradition is we go to the red sox game which is -- everyone loves the red sox in boston. that's the heart of the city. and then you actually -- the game ends and you end up right

on commonwealth avenue right outside of fenway, and you get to cheer on the runners and see them finish it out. it's such a happy-go-lucky day for the city of boston. and it's just -- everyone's having a blast. you know, when i was a kid, i used to think i'd get school off because of the boston marathon. it was always the best day. so for something like this to happen, it is just the most terrible feeling. because there's -- there's nothing but happiness on this day. there's really nothing to describe it better than happy-go-lucky day. and everyone just has a blast, and for this to happen, it's just awful. >> taylor landes, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you. >> joining me now msnbc's steve

kernacki. it's the patriots day is one of those things -- >> it's hard to explain why you have a holiday that day. >> my cousins were always jealous from other states who didn't get that day off. >> day off? it was usually the kickoff to the week. say that to someone outside of mis, it's the week. i was one of those idiots who jumped in after heartbreak hill i just wanted the experience of running the last five or six miles of the race. >> that's more than i've done. >> it's an amazing feeling when you're on beacon street heading

towards kenmore square. there's a slight hill there. you go over mass pike, it's a slow decent into kenmore square. and you have all these people flooding out. >> and the time -- the red sox game is 11:00 a.m., it's time society people are leaving fenway park in time to cheer on the winners of the marathon which they did today. >> yeah, just to come through. i got a little feeling of this, but i could see it with the runners around me. you go over to mass pike there aren't that many people around there you get to kenmore square, and it's about the whole world is waiting for you. you've got these people who made it 25 miles that the point. they have spent months, they've spent years training for this. the crowd, down commonwealth avenue, to mass av, the just just carries you. there's a roar there. you can imagine for someone who grew up in new england, this is the ultimate achievement for

them to have run 26.2 miles in the same race that you have professional athletes that are aspiring for world records. >> steve, we're watching the history of boston coming together. the first boston marathon in 1887, we're seeing people involved in that marathon today. being brought to a hospital that was founded in 1811. massachusetts general hospital, now a 202-year-old hospital. we're watching the city bring its assets together in a crisis, in a trauma. and trying to move forward. they certainly do have a all the equipment they need to get through what's coming. but it's hard to believe what they've been through already today. >> no, i mean, absolutely. and i mean, i first thought when this -- my cousin actually works in the mandarin hotel across the street from where the explosion

was, i had friended up there for the marathon or the red sox game, i'm thinking like everybody else who has family and friends around there, you immediately think of them and how they're doing. you talk to them throughout the day, though, and everybody i know is okay, thank goodness. >> i spent a couple hours today tracking people down. tracking down cousins, gradually, it would all come in. one relative lives very, very close to the scene of this bombing today. so, i think that's been true for a lot of people. they've been texting and checking. and then the cell phones were down in boston for a while. >> right. >> i couldn't get people on the phone there because their cell phones weren't working in those area codes. >> yeah. no, texting was the way. ewe thinking of people you haven't seen in some cases or each a couple of years. you kind of want to reach out and get the i'm okay. i had a few of those e-mails today. it never felt so good to hear that response. >> i think when the cell